|
198.
A column in route, like a column in manoeuvre, ought never to have a
depth greater than about the front it had occupied in the line of
battle, less the front of a subdivision.
199.
The observance of this principle requires no particular rule for a
column in manoeuvre; but, as a column in route may have hourly to
pass narrow ways, bridges, or other defiles, rendering it necessary
to diminish the front of subdivisions, it becomes important to give
rules and means by which the column may, for any length of march,
preserve the ease of the route step without elongation from front to
rear.
200.
A column in route will be habitually formed by company.
201.
When a column in route shall arrive at a pass too narrow to receive
the front of a company, the column will diminish front by platoon
before entering. This movement will be executed successively, or by
all the companies at once.
202.
If, however, the defile be very short, and it may be passed by the
diminution of a few files, it will be preferable to break to the
rear the limited number of files.
203.
The column being by platoon, and the want of space rendering a
further diminution of front necessary, it will be diminished by
section, if the platoons be of twelve or more files.
204.
The column being by section, will continue to march by that front as
long as the defile may permit.
205
If the platoons have less than twelve files, one or two files will
be broken to the rear, according to the narrowing of the defile, and
the route step continued as long as six files can march abreast.
206.
What has just been explained for breaking files to the rear in a
column by platoon, is equally applicable to a column by section.
207.
If the defile be too narrow to permit six men to march abreast, the
subdivisions will be marched successively by the flank, conforming
to what is prescribed Nos. 314 and 315, school of the company.
208.
The battalion marching by the flank, will be formed into column, by
section, by platoon, or by' company, as soon as the breadth of the
way may permit; the several movements which these formations include
will be executed by the commands of the captains, as their companies
successively clear the defile, observing the following rules.
209.
As soon as the way is sufficiently broad to contain six men abreast,
the captain will command:
1.
By section (or by platoon) into line. 2. MARCH.
210.
At the command march, the subdivisions indicated will form
themselves into line; the files which have not been able to enter
will follow (by the flank) the last four files of their subdivision
which have entered into line.
211.
The column marching in this order, the files in rear will be caused
to enter into line as the increased breadth of the way may permit.
212.
The column marching by section or by platoon, platoons or companies
will be formed as soon as the breadth of the way may permit.
213.
The leading subdivision will follow the windings of the pass or
defile; the following subdivisions will not occupy themselves with
the direction, but all, in succession, pass over the trace of the
subdivisions which precede them respectively. The men will not seek
to avoid the bad parts of the way, but pass, as far as practicable,
each in the direction of his file.
214.
Changes of direction will always be made without command; if the
change be important, a caution merely from the respective chiefs to
their subdivisions will suffice, and the rear rank, as well as the
files broken to the rear, will execute successively the movement
where the front rank had executed it.
215.
The colonel will hold himself at the head of the battalion; he will
regulate the step of the leading subdivision, and indicate to its
chief the instant for executing the various movements which the
nature of the route may render necessary.
216.
If the column be composed of several battalions, each will conform
itself, in its turn, to what shall have been commanded for the
leading battalion, observing to execute each movement at the same
place, and in the same manner.
217.
Finally, to render the mechanism of all those movements familiar to
the troops, and to habituate them to march in the route step without
elongating the column, commanders will generally cause their
battalions to march in this step, going to, and returning from,
fields of exercise. Each will occasionally conduct his battalion
through narrow passes, in order to make it perceive the utility of
the-principles prescribed above; and he will several times, in every
course of instruction, march it in the route step, and cause to be
executed, sometimes at once, and sometimes successively, the divers
movements which have just been indicated.
218.
The lesson relative to the column in route is, by its frequent
application, one of the most important that can be given to troops.
If it be not well- taught and established on right principles, it
will happen that the rear of the column in route will be obliged to
run, to regain distances, or that the front will be forced to halt
till the rear shall have accomplished that object; thus rendering
the march greatly slower, or greatly more fatiguing, generally both,
than if it were executed according to rule.
219.
The ordinary progress of a column in route ought to be, on good
roads or good grounds, at the rate of one hundred and ten paces in a
minute. This rate may be easily maintained by columns of almost any
depth; but over bad roads, ploughed fields, loose sands, or
mountainous districts, the progress cannot be so great, and must
therefore be regulated according to circumstances.
220.
The most certain means of marching well in a route, is to preserve
always a regular and equal movement, and, if obstacles oblige one or
more subdivisions to slacken or to shorten the step, to cause the
primitive rate of march to be resumed the moment the difficulties
are passed.
221.
A subdivision ought never to take more than the prescribed distance
from the subdivision immediately preceding; but it is sometimes
necessary to lessen that distance.
222.
Thus: the head of the column encounters an obstacle which obliges it
to relax its march; all the following subdivisions will preserve the
habitual step, and close up in mass, if necessary, on the
subdivision nearest to the obstacle. Distances will afterwards
naturally be recovered as each subdivision shall successively have
passed the obstacle. Nevertheless, if the difficulty be too great to
be overcome by one subdivision, while the next is closing up, so
that distances cannot afterwards be recovered without running, the
chief of the column will halt the leading subdivision beyond the
obstacle, at a distance sufficient to contain the whole column in
mass. He will then put the column in march, the subdivisions taking
distances by the head, observing to commence the movement in time,
so that the last subdivision may not be obliged to halt, after
having cleared the obstacle.
223.
When the chief of a column shall wish to change the rate of march,
he will cause the leading battalion to quicken or to relax the step
insensibly, and send orders to the other battalions each to regulate
itself by that which precedes it.
224.
The column being composed of several battalions, the
general-in-chief will always leave an aide-camp with its rear to
bring him prompt information if it find a difficulty in following.
225.
Subdivisions ought always to step out well in obliquing, both In
breaking and forming companies or platoons. When either is done in
succession, it is highly important that no subdivision slacken or
shorten the step whilst that which precedes it is engaged in the
movement. The observance of this principle can alone prevent an
elongation of the column.
226.
If the battalion, marching by the flank, encounter a pass so narrow
as to oblige it to defile with a front of two men, the colonel will
order support arms, take the cadenced step, and undouble the files,
which will be executed as prescribed in the school of the company,
No. 326; the files will double again as soon as the breadth of the
way will permit.
227.
If the defile be only sufficient to receive a front of one man, the
colonel will cause the men to pass one at a time. The men of the
same file should follow each other in their order as closely as
possible, and without loss of time. As soon as the defile permits a
front of two or four men, the battalion will be re-formed into two
or four ranks, and will march in this order until there be space to
form platoons or sections, as indicated No. 209.
228.
In both cases, just supposed, the head of the battalion, after
having passed the defile, will march till sufficient space be left
to contain the whole of the subdivisions in mass; afterwards it will
be put in march by the means indicated No. 222.
229.
When a command has to move rapidly over a given distance, the
movements prescribed in this article will be executed in double
quick time; if the distance be long, the chief of the column will
not allow the march at this gait to be continued for more than
fifteen minutes; at the end of this time, he will order the ordinary
route step to be marched for five minutes, and then again resume the
double quick. If the ground be uneven, having considerable ascents
and descents, he will reserve the double quick for those parts of
the ground most favorable to this march.
230.
A column marching alternately in double quick time and the ordinary
route step, in the manner stated, can easily accomplish very long
distances in a very short space of time; but when the distance to be
passed over be not greater than two miles, it ought to be
accomplished, when the ground is favorable, without changing the
rate of march.
231.
The column being in march in the cadenced step, when the colonel
shall wish to cause it to change direction, he will go to the point
at which the change ought to be commenced, and establish a marker
there, presenting the breast to the flank of the column; this
marker, no matter to which side the change of direction is to be
made, will be posted on the opposite side, and he will remain in
position till the last subdivision of the battalion shall have
passed. The leading subdivision being within a few paces of the
marker, the colonel will command: Head of column to the left (or
right).
232.
At this, the chief of the leading subdivision will immediately take
the guide on the side opposite the change of direction, if not
already there. This guide will direct himself so as to graze the
breast of the marker; arrived at this point, the chief will cause
his subdivision to change direction by the commands and according to
the principles prescribed in the school of the company. When the
wheel is completed, the chief of this subdivision will retake the
guide, if changed, on the side of the primitive direction.
 |
233.
The chief of each succeeding subdivision, as well as the guides,
will conform to what has just been explained for the leading
subdivision.
234.
The colonel will carefully see that the guide of each subdivision,
in wheeling, does not throw himself without or within, but passes
over all the points of the arc of the circle, which he ought to
describe.
|
235.
As often as no distinct object presents itself in the new direction,
the lieutenant colonel will place himself upon it in advance, at the
distance of thirty or forty paces from the marker, and be assured in
this direction by the colonel; the leading guide will take, the
moment he shall have changed direction, two points on the ground in
the straight line which, drawn from himself, would pass between the
heels of the lieutenant colonel, taking, afterwards, new points as
he advances.
236.
The major will see that the guides direct themselves on the marker
posted at the point of change, so as to graze his breast.
237.
If the column be composed of several battalions, the lieutenant
colonel of the second will cause the marker of the first battalion
to be replaced as soon as the last subdivision of this battalion
shall have passed; this disposition will be observed by battalion
after battalion, to the rear of the column.
238.
It has been demonstrated, school of the company, how important it
is, first, that each subdivision execute its change of direction
precisely at the point where the leading one had changed, and that
it arrive in a square with the direction; second, that the wheeling
point ought, always, to be cleared in time, in order that the
subdivision engaged in the wheel may not arrest the movement of the
following one, The deeper the column, the more rigorously ought
these principles to be observed; because, a fault that would be but
slight in a column of a single battalion would cause much
embarrassment in one of great depth.
239.
The column being in march, when the colonel shall wish to halt it,
he will command:
1.
Column. 2. HALT.
240.
At the second command, briskly repeated by the captains, the column
will halt; no guide will stir, though he may have lost his distance,
or be out of the direction of the preceding guides.
241.
The column being in march, in double quick time, will be halted by
the same commands. At the command halt. the men will halt in their
places, and will themselves rectify their positions in the ranks.
242.
The column being halted, when the colonel shall wish to form it into
line of battle, he will move a little in front of the leading guide,
and face to him; this guide and the following one will fix their
eyes on the colonel, in order promptly to conform themselves to his
directions.
243.
If the colonel judge it not necessary to give a general direction to
the guides, he will limit himself to rectifying the position of such
as may be without, or within the direction, by the command, guide of
(such) company, or guides of (such) companies, to the right (or to
the left); at this command, the guides designated will place
themselves on the direction; the others will stand fast.
244.
If, on the contrary, the colonel judge it necessary to give a
general direction to the guides of the column, he will place the
first two on the direction he shall have chosen, and command:
Guides, cover.
245.
At this, the following guides will promptly place themselves on the
direction covering the first two in file, and each precisely at a
distance equal to the front of his company, from the guide
immediately preceding; the lieutenant colonel will assure them in
the direction, and the colonel will command:
Left
(or right)-DRESS.
246.
At this command, each company will incline to the right or left, and
dress forward or backwards so as to bring the designated flank to
rest on its guide; each captain will place himself two paces outside
of his guide, promptly align his company parallelly with that which
precedes, then command, FRONT, and return to his place in column.
247.
Finally, if the general guides march on the flank of the column, the
colonel, having halted it, will place himself in rear of the
color-bearer, to ascertain whether the leading general guide and the
color-bearer be exactly on the direction of the two points in
advance, and establish them on that direction if they be not already
on it; the major will do the like, in respect to the general guide
in the rear; which being executed, the colonel will command:
1.
Guides-ON THE LINE.
248.
At this command, the guide of each company of the directing flank
will step promptly into the direction of the general guides, and
face to the front. The lieutenant colonel, placed in front of, and
facing to, the leading general guide, and the major, placed in rear
of the rearmost one, will promptly align the company guides.
249.
The colonel, having verified the direction of the guides,
will-command:
Left
(or right) —DRESS.
250.
This will be executed as prescribed No. 246.
251.
The means indicated No. 244 and following, for giving a general
direction to the guides of a column, at full distance, will apply
only to a column composed of two or, at most, three battalions. If
the number be more numerous, its chief will cause the colors and
general guides of all the battalions to step out and place
themselves on the direction which he may wish to give to the column,
as is explained in the evolutions of the line.
|
|
